Antenatal dexamethasone for early preterm birth in low-resource countries

BACKGROUND: The safety and efficacy of antenatal glucocorticoids in women in low-resource countries who are at risk for preterm birth are uncertain. METHODS: We conducted a multicountry, randomized trial involving pregnant women between 26 weeks 0 days and 33 weeks 6 days of gestation who were at risk for preterm birth. The participants were assigned to intramuscular dexamethasone or identical placebo. The primary outcomes were neonatal death alone, stillbirth or neonatal death, and possible maternal bacterial infection; neonatal death alone and stillbirth or neonatal death were evaluated with superiority analyses, and possible maternal bacterial infection was evaluated with a noninferiority analysis with the use of a prespecified margin of 1.25 on the relative scale. RESULTS: A total of 2852 women (and their 3070 fetuses) from 29 secondary- and tertiary-level hospitals across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan underwent randomization. The trial was stopped for benefit at the second interim analysis. Neonatal death occurred in 278 of 1417 infants (19.6%) in the dexamethasone group and in 331 of 1406 infants (23.5%) in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 0.97; P=0.03). Stillbirth or neonatal death occurred in 393 of 1532 fetuses and infants (25.7%) and in 444 of 1519 fetuses and infants (29.2%), respectively (relative risk, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.99; P=0.04); the incidence of possible maternal bacterial infection was 4.8% and 6.3%, respectively (relative risk, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.03). There was no significant between-group difference in the incidence of adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among women in low-resource countries who were at risk for early preterm birth, the use of dexamethasone resulted in significantly lower risks of neonatal death alone and stillbirth or neonatal death than the use of placebo, without an increase in the incidence of possible maternal bacterial infection.Fil: Oladapo, Olufemi T.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Vogel, Joshua P.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Piaggio, Gilda. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Nguyen, My-Huong. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Althabe, Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Metin Gülmezoglu, A.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Bahl, Rajiv. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Rao, Suman P.N.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: de Costa, Ayesha. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Gupta, Shuchita. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Shahidullah, Mohammod. No especifíca;Fil: Chowdhury, Saleha B.. No especifíca;Fil: Ara, Gulshan. No especifíca;Fil: Akter, Shaheen. No especifíca;Fil: Akhter, Nasreen. No especifíca;Fil: Dey, Probhat R.. No especifíca;Fil: Abdus Sabur, M.. No especifíca;Fil: Azad, Mohammad T.. No especifíca;Fil: Choudhury, Shahana F.. No especifíca;Fil: Matin, M.A.. No especifíca;Fil: Goudar, Shivaprasad S.. No especifíca;Fil: Dhaded, Sangappa M.. No especifíca;Fil: Metgud, Mrityunjay C.. No especifíca;Fil: Pujar, Yeshita V.. No especifíca;Fil: Somannavar, Manjunath S.. No especifíca;Fil: Vernekar, Sunil S.. No especifíca;Fil: Herekar, Veena R.. No especifíca;Fil: Bidri, Shailaja R.. No especifíca;Fil: Mathapati, Sangamesh S.. No especifíca;Fil: Patil, Preeti G.. No especifíca;Fil: Patil, Mallanagouda M.. No especifíca;Fil: Gudadinni, Muttappa R.. No especifíca;Fil: Bijapure, Hidaytullah R.. No especifíca;Fil: Mallapur, Ashalata A.. No especifíca;Fil: Katageri, Geetanjali M.. No especifíca;Fil: Chikkamath, Sumangala B.. No especifíca;Fil: Yelamali, Bhuvaneshwari C.. No especifíca;Fil: Pol, Ramesh R.. No especifíca;Fil: Misra, Sujata S.. No especifíca;Fil: Das, Leena. No especifíca

CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF FRUITS IN A SELECTED AREA OF BANGLADESH

This study was an attempt to examine the consumption pattern and the factors affecting consumption of fruits in an area of Gazipur district. Consumption of fresh fruits in rural area was higher than that of urban area. Rural people mainly consumed fruits from their own production, whereas urban peoples' main source was purchase. Sharp seasonal variation in consumption was found in the study area; peak period consumption was about twenty one times higher than that of slack period. Urban consumers consumed proportionately more amount of banana, papaya, pineapple and citrus fruits than their rural counterpart. Fruit consumption was affected by the amount available from own production and income of the consumer. Education and knowledge about fruits had little or no impact on fruit consumption

PROFITABILITY AND PROBLEMS OF EXPORTING FRESH VEGETABLE FROM BANGLADESH

The study was undertaken to examine the profitability of producers, margin of traders and problems encountered by exporters of fresh vegetables. In the export marketing chain the vegetables farmer sold three fourth of vegetables to the Bepari/ Selected agents. Vegetable producers received average profit of Tk. 32 by spending Tk. 100 as production cost. The agents received Tk. 12 to 13 by investing Tk. 100 within very short period of time. The study reveals that it is more profitable to export vegetables to Asian countries compared to Middle East countries. The scarcity of cargo space, high cost of airfreight, plane delay and lengthy custom procedure, low quality of packaging, poor quality of vegetables, seasonality of production and high domestic prices, lack of domestic transportation, lack of insufficient storage management, inadequate market information and off load were the major problems faced by vegetable exporters

MARKETING SYSTEM, SEASONALITY IN PRICES AND INTEGRATION OF ONION MARKETS IN BANGLADESH

The objectives of the study were to estimate costs and margins, seasonal price variation and to test market integration of onion. Primary and secondary data were used for this study. The higher marketing cost was incurred by Beparis and the lowest by Aratdars. On the other hand, retailers earned the highest net marketing margins. Farmer's net share of onion in lean period was higher than that in peak period. Seasonal price variation of onion was the highest in Rajshahi and the lowest in Dhaka market. Price was the lowest in March-April and the highest in November. The range and coefficient of variations of seasonal indices in different periods imply that seasonal price variation of onion in Bangladesh decreased in the recent past. Analysis of market integration shows that onion market in Bangladesh was well integrated

AN EVALUATION OF GOVERNMENT RICE PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME IN SELECTED AREAS OF BANGLADESH

Government Boro procurement programme was evaluated with the help of primary data collected from different upazilas under Bogra and Naogaon districts during 2001. Additionally, secondary data were obtained from different sources. Farmers and millers directly sold paddy and rice respectively to the procurement centre. Faria and Bepari did not sell paddy or rice directly to the procurement centre but they formed a complex channel in procurement of rice in the study areas. Large differences were observed between procurement price and market price and procurement price and cost of production in different years. The highest difference between procurement price and market price was observed in the month of May for paddy and June for rice. Positive relationship was observed between the percentage of marketed surplus procured and market price of paddy. Small farmers sold the highest proportion of their surplus to the procurement centre compared with large farmers. The cost of selling paddy to procurement centre was more than double as much as the cost involved in selling paddy in the market. Majority of millers were not satisfied with the size of quota received for Boro rice. The factors such as marketed surplus, experience, education, metalled road and distance of procurement centre were found to influence the participation of farmers in procurement programme. The major reasons for not selling paddy to the procurement centre by farmers were lengthy procedure, loss of time and high transportation cost

SPATIAL PRICE INTEGRATION AND PRICING EFFICIENCY OF EXPORT MARKETS LEVEL: A CASE OF BANGLADESHI EXPORTABLE FRESH VEGETABLES MARKETS

The paper examined the pricing efficiency of exportable fresh vegetables markets in Bangladesh and its export markets by using Engle-Granger (EG) test, Cointegration Regression for Durbin Watson (CRDW) test and Error Correction Methods (ECM). For the test of pricing efficiency of exportable fresh vegetables markets, the monthly export earnings data were used to test cointegration from July 2004-05 to July 2006-07 yielding a total of 36 observations. Engle-Granger test was used to estimate the integration among the fresh vegetables exports markets in Bangladesh. In the cointegrating set up, error correction method estimated the long-run relationship between Bangladesh and selected export markets. The vegetables export markets of UK-Saudi Arabia, UK-UAE markets and UK-Singapore markets are not integrated and these markets prices were non-responsive. Bangladesh-UK; Bangladesh-UAE; Bangladesh-Singapore; UAE-Saudi Arabia and UAE-Singapore markets are highly integrated due to having the facility of information technology, which closely connected the markets to each other. Bangladesh-UK; Bangladesh-Saudi Arabia; Bangladesh-UAE, Bangladesh-Singapore and Saudi Arabia-UAE markets are found strong form of market integration due to congenial atmosphere existed in these markets. The rest combinations of markets do not support the strong form of market integration because of complication of export procedures, lack of bi-lateral agreement. The speed of price adjustment (8) ranges from 9% to 66 % indicating that price adjustment takes around 3 to 20 days in transmitting information from one market to the others export markets. The highest percentage speed of adjustment was found in Bangladesh and UK markets. This exhibits that if any divergence appears from the long-run equilibrium, it is adjusted towards the equilibrium value by the speed of 66% or 20 days. Price adjustments among the selected export markets were found to be quicker in Bangladesh-United Arab Emirates market (3 days)

CONSUMPTION PATTERN OF FOOD COMMODITIES IN AN AREA OF MYMENSINGH

This study is an attempt to generate some micro level information in respect of pattern of consumption of selected food items and the related food consumption parameters. The results showed that rural consumers consumed more rice and non-food items. Per capita consumption of food in general increased substantially with rise in per capita income. The difference between the poor and the rich in terms of nutrition intake was wider in urban than in rural area. The findings also revealed that the quantities consumed or expenditure on food-rain, potato and pulses did not increase much with rising income in both the areas. On the other hand. chances in income were found to have more impact on consumption of other commodities

FORECASTING OF AGRICULTURAL EXPORT EARNINGS OF BANGLADESH: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF FRESH VEGETABLES AND FRUITS MARKETS

The study fitted ARIMA models based on some diagnostic tests and ARIMA (1, 1, 8) was finally chosen for total export, ARIMA (6, 2, 6) for agricultural export and ARIMA (1, 2, 1) for vegetables exports and ARIMA (8, 2, 8) for fruits export earnings. The percent of export earning was 10% in 2006-07 which would gradually increase up to 2008-09 and it would remain same till 2010-11. If the existing agricultural export earnings continue, Bangladesh would obtain 13% higher growth in the year 2006-07 but 6% lower growth in the year 201011 than the preceding years, respectively. The vegetables export earnings in Bangladesh would mark 23% growth in 2006-07 but it would decrease by 10% in of 2010-11. So, the government of Bangladesh should take cash incentive export policy for the development of this sector. It is strongly recommended that forecasting of the export earnings might be implemented in export policy making, especially in planning and development in Bangladesh, because these were cost effective and more accurate

ESTIMATION OF VEGETABLE DEMAND ELASTICITIES IN BANGLADESH: APPLICATION OF ALMOST IDEAL DEMAND SYSTEM MODEL

The study estimated vegetable demand elasticities in Bangladesh by using Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model with corrected Stone price index. The study was conducted in Sherpur, Mymensingh Sadar under Mymensingh district and Ramna Thana under Dhaka Municipality. The household expenditure survey data was used in the study. The study revealed that the income (expenditure) elasticity for fresh vegetable was 0.58. The compensated and uncompensated own price elasticities indicated that all food items were price inelastic. Where estimated uncompensated own price elasticity of vegetables at the national level indicated that if the price of vegetables falls by 10% the demand for vegetables would increase by 4.09%. Of this total increase in demand, 3.61% is purely due to price effect (i.e. the substitute effect) as the compensated elasticity suggests. The estimates of cross price elasticities indicated that the substitution effects of price change were not strong. Therefore, government price intervention might not lead to considerable price repercussion in the economy

Marketing channel, margin, and price behavior of egg in selected areas of Gazipur district

The present study was undertaken to examine the marketing channel, marketing margin, seasonal price variation, problems and probable solutions of egg marketing in Gazipur district. The sample size of the study was 55 which included 15 layer farm owners and 40 egg traders selected purposively. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. In egg marketing system five different channels were identified. The average marketing costs for layer farm owner, arathder, wholesaler, wholesaler cum retailer and retailer were Tk. 3.23, Tk. 20.60, Tk.16.34, Tk.13.09 and Tk. 12.51 per 100 eggs, respectively. The net marketing margins for arathder, wholesaler, wholesaler cum retailer and retailer were estimated at Tk. 9.40, Tk.13.60, Tk. 21.91 and Tk. 32.50. Price was the highest in the month of July and lowest in the month of December. There was a wide seasonal price variation of egg in the selected markets due to change in demand and supply at different times of the year. The study identified some problems of layer farming and marketing of egg, and suggested measures for solving these problems